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Trailheads are of course confined to these roads, and the roads hence delineate the seven hiking regions covered in this guide: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (accessed by Evergreen Road), Yosemite Valley (accessed by CA 140, CA 120, and CA 41), Glacier Point and Wawona (accessed by CA 41 and Glacier Point Road), Tioga Road and Tenaya Lake (along CA 120), Tuolumne Meadows (farther east along CA 120), Tioga Pass (the park’s eastern boundary, accessed by CA 120), and Mono Lake and vicinity (east of Yosemite, accessed by CA 120 or US 395). Note that CA 120 east of Crane Flat and Glacier Point Road are closed November–May or beyond.

YOSEMITE’S SEASONS

Most people visit Yosemite in spring to see Yosemite Valley’s raging waterfalls, or in summer, when school vacation permits a trip and temperatures are warmest. However, the lowest sections of the park, including Yosemite Valley, the Hetch Hetchy area, and Wawona, are accessible year-round and are snow-free during all but the coldest winter spells. Climbing just a few thousand feet brings you into the snowbelt, the mixed conifer zone, with snow cover generally from mid-November through March or April. Continued ascent into the montane, subalpine, and alpine reaches of the park, including passage along Tioga Road (CA 120) to Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass, carries you to areas that are inaccessible for 7 months—from the first major snowfall in October or November until at least late May. Spring reaches the low elevations in April and the alpine in June. A warm, mostly dry summer follows. June–August is hot in Yosemite Valley, Wawona, and Hetch Hetchy and pleasant in Tuolumne Meadows and at Tioga Pass. By September, fall, with freezing nights, has arrived at the upper elevations, and within a month the yellow grass and coloring leaves have spread to Yosemite Valley. October brings the first snowfalls at the upper elevations, with snow already sticking in shadowed areas on the higher summits. Soon winter, with snow or persistent rain, has enveloped all of Yosemite. The plants, animals, and most visitors are again waiting for spring.